Saturday in the Garden - More Light!

December 26, 2015 - Everything turns to slush

OUTSIDE

Mother Nature pulled a fast one on us Upper Midwesterners in the U.S. and decided at the last minute to grant a White Christmas.  Saucy Minx.  I am not generally a fan of the white stuff but at Christmas it is acceptable, even desired.   Thanks Mother Nature and Happy Winter Solstice to all in the northern hemisphere!  Longer days from here on out.  

 

 

LIFE

I have the next week off from work which is very exciting.  My plans are to: 1) Read, 2) Cook a bunch of food for the freezer, 3) Read, 4) Watch the first three Star Wars movies on my VHS tapes if I can remember how to work the VCR and then go see The Force Awakens, 5) Catch up on the blog and reviews, 6) Catch up on everybody elses blog posts, 7) Read, 8) Winterize and clean the house really well, 9) Do a jigsaw puzzle which I haven't done in like 15 years and forgot how addictive it is, 10) Read.  Should be a really nice break (even if one of the jigsaw pieces has already fallen on the ground and been ever so gently chewed upon by a curious golden retriever)!

I also stumbled across this lovely blog post entitled How To Be a Ladyperson at the Holidays which made me giggle so I thought I'd share the mirth.  I have also been a little obsessed with this acapella Star Wars parody about how science is awesome, entitled Science Wars.  You're welcome.  Unless you've already seen it a hundred times like I have, in which case sorry for the ear worm.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching 

I've still been making my way through Agatha Christie's Poirot Mysteries on the BBC and am finally getting to some episodes which I haven't seen or at least not 100 times like most of the others.  David Suchet really is the perfect Poirot in my mind.  I can't imagine anyone else doing the character justice - he captures the ridiculous aspects of Poirot as well as the bad-ass crime solving, super smart aspects.  He's actually great to watch when you are perhaps feeling a little squirelly in your own skin because he so completely embraces himself and all his eccentricities. 

Reading

Finished Last Week: 

• Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare:  Every time I mention that I love Sarah MacLean, everyone tells me I must read Tessa Dare.  So I read Tessa Dare and it was great! Thanks everyone!  It's the first in the Castles Ever After series and involves the impoverished daughter of a well-beloved author and a blind Duke. 
•  Heartless by Gail Carriger: I finally got it back from the library and was finally able to finish it!  The 4th book in the Parasol Protectorate series. Carriger had way too much fun with an 8 months pregnant Alexia.  
• Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart:  This is a mystery/crime novel set in the early part of the 20th century and it is so good.  It is apparently the fictional account of (mostly) actual events leading up to the hiring of one of America's first female Deputy Sheriffs.

Currently Reading:

• Into the Wilderness by Sarah Donati:  Historical fiction/romance (different actually then just a historical romance) I had to wait behind 6 other patrons on the hold list to get this from the library despite the fact it was published in 1998.  Not sure why - maybe because it gets compared to Outlander and that's big right now?  Even though I did not like Outlander, I am liking this so far.  Set in the American frontier just pre or post revolution period (somewhere between 1750 and 1800:).
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater:  The third in the Raven Cycle books.
• Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley:  The 5th book in the Flavia DeLuce mystery series featuring a chemistry and poison loving 12 year old in 1950s England.
• Steal the Sky by Megan O'Keefe:  An ARC and the first in a new science fiction series that sounds Firefly-esque.  Publication: January 5th, 2016.

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week.  It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

• The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis: I came across this book on the Tenacious Reader blog.  Described as an apocalyptic tale narrated by a young girl traveling with a man who she is beginning to suspect may be a serial killer.  Sounds like an interesting character piece.
• Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal: Also from Tenacious Reader.  I'm not sure what's up with this novella as it says it was originally published in 2013 but it is being re-released in 2016.  I like Kowal's books so would like to check this out.  
• Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen:  As happens so many weeks, The Bibliosanctum brought this book to my attention.  Set in a fantastical world based on the American wild west and featuring a cross dressing heroine, there is no doubt that I will be reading this book.  Mogsy gave it a great review as well!

Blogging 

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:

• THURSDAY:  Review of Winter by Marissa Meyer.   A great conclusion to a fun series.

On the BLOG NEXT WEEK:

The Top Ten Tuesday post this week (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is the books we are most looking forward to in the first half of 2016 and my reading brain doesn't work like that so I don't think I will participate.  However, I have a couple of end-of-year posts like my favorite characters of 2015, the dangers of being a series addict, and a 2015 wrap up post.  I also, as stated previously, want to catch up with reviews so hopefully will sneak one of those in.